Metal & Hydride Research

Our research in this domain focuses on the activation of elemental metals, mostly powdered, and hydrides of both metals and non-metals. The thrust areas are on-demand generation of hydrogen under both protic and aprotic conditions, Birch-type reductions, metal-based solid fuel and mechanistic studies of single electron transfer (SET) processes. The research is conducted under the brand AMH Energy (AMH standing for Activated Metals and Hydrides), in collaboration with TIT, Agartala, TR (India).

On-Demand Generation of Hydrogen: Our work on on-demand generation of hydrogen is broadly divided into 2 types:

• Generation in an Aprotic Medium: This involves the transition metal-catalyzed comproportanation of silanes.
• Generation in a Protic Medium: This involves the transition-metal catalyzed reaction of elemental metals (powdered, sheet or block) or sodium borohydride in water or ethanol.

Birch-Type Reductions: This involves proprietary combinations of elemental metals and transition metal salts, with or without a metal oxide matrix. The proprietary combinations can be deployed for Birch-type reductions of several substrates.

Metal-Based Solid Fuel: This involves a combination of elemental metal powders which can be deployed as solid fuel, by themselves or in combination with other fuel. The oxides, obtained after combustion, are supposed to be recycled to make the fuel sustainable and economical. Being non-volatile, the metal powders present a safer alternative to conventional volatile fuels, in certain conditions.

Mechanistic Studies of SET Processes: We are trying to better understand the SET processes in the domains mentioned above, in addition to finding appropriate ways for the in-situ scrubbing of the oxide layers from the surfaces of elemental metals.